limbo
igotyouakeychain
It was nothingness. Rumplestiltskin couldn’t describe it, really. It wasn’t life, nor was it death. Behind him was nothing but blackness, ahead light. His mind was foggy, a haze of words and images that he couldn’t quite place, but one thing he was certain of: the Darkness was gone. Wherever he was, he was free of the curse. The question was whether he would ever find his way back.
Back to what? That was a good question. Back to a town that despised him, to a wife who--? He tried to remember what had happened. Belle had been there, but... had it been she who’d saved him? Who had drawn the Darkness out? Was she still there, waiting for him to return? Or, and he shuddered to think it, was she hoping he never would? It would be better, he thought idly, for both of them if he didn’t. She would be free and he... well, the way back was dark.
And he was a coward.
It was so tempting to go forward, but something told him that it wasn’t as simple as that. That something was holding him here, caught in-between. Just like always. He was always so close, so close to the life he’d always wanted, and always it was taken from him. He wanted to go forward, to take the coward’s way out, to be back where he belonged: at Baelfire’s side.
And he couldn’t.
Lost in thought, he almost didn’t notice the other figure, sitting a short distance away from him. His eyes finally focused, his mind cleared at last-- and his voice was nothing but a broken whisper as he took in the sight of his son.
“Bae?”
